


ESSAY: The Ethics of the Three Paths

by Rens_Knight



Series: Another Set of Eyes: A Star Wars Alternate Universe [7]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Gen, Literature, Meta, non-fiction, philosophical, prose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-28
Updated: 2016-02-28
Packaged: 2018-10-23 03:46:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10711536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rens_Knight/pseuds/Rens_Knight
Summary: In this meta essay, I consider the morality and ethics involved in the decision the Reader makes inAnother Set of Eyes, as to how to handle the very, very unusual circumstances of her captivity.(Spoilers up to Part 6 ofAnother Set of Eyes)





	ESSAY: The Ethics of the Three Paths

**Author's Note:**

> There is more than one way to see this!  I totally understand.   I am just exploring all of this for fun.  I do not intend anyone to feel attacked or disrespected by this.

  
**(SPOILERS for "Another Set of Eyes")**

****

So I've decided to do a little something different...this isn't a story chapter and doesn't introduce new material--it's an essay on some of the ethics that go into the decision the Reader/POV character makes in my story "Another Set of Eyes," because let's be honest: this is a very, very touchy choice, to say the least, and I enjoy thinking about these things way too much.

If you would prefer to avoid spoilers for the story, please turn back now, because after this point there _will_ be spoilers, potentially up through the most recently posted part (Part 6, as of the completion of this essay), while I figure most of it is going to stop around Part 4.  Also, while this isn't going to be university philosophy and ethics, if you'd rather not read an essay, I quite understand...you won't hurt my feelings.  This is going to be way too much for a journal entry, though, so submitting an essay it is.

Anyway, by the time we get thick into the plot of "Another Set of Eyes," you as the Reader have discovered that not only are you physically a captive of Kylo Ren and the First Order, but that something went wrong when Ren was interrogating you--and now a permanent bridge exists between your mind and his.  And even he, with the extreme power of his mental gifts of the Force, finds himself unable to undo whatever it is he's done.

Ultimately you are left with three main options--and each of them, in their own way, is pretty terrible.  Things are much more complicated than they would be without the mental connection.  Therefore all three possible routes carry severe repercussions for you, and very likely for others...the only thing remaining to you is to pick your poison.

It ultimately comes down to variations on these three options:

  1. **Attempt escape.**
  2. **Take your own life.**
  3. **Ally with Kylo Ren.**



For the sake of the story, there's only so much I can discuss about the ramifications of Option 3 even though I try to cover the areas I can without giving away spoilers for future material, so do bear with me. We'll start with the first and to most people, most _obvious_ thing to try to do in any captive situation.

  


Option 1: Attempt escape. 

This looks pretty straightforward, doesn't it?  Under most circumstances, this is what I think most of us would like to believe we'd do if we were taken captive behind enemy lines.  Even our Reader, who is not a soldier and not a Resistance member, has no sympathies for the First Order; she should be considered Republic-allied.

The particular variant I'm using here belongs to the United States military, but I'd figure most militaries have something similar on the books.  If our Reader were part of the US Armed Forces, her obligation would be clearly spelled out by the [Code of Conduct for Members of the United States Armed Forces](http://www.deviantart.com/users/outgoing?http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/readings/code_of_conduct.htm):

> **III**
> 
> If I am captured I will continue to resist by all means available. I will make every effort to escape and aid others to escape. I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy. 
> 
> **IV**
> 
> If I become a prisoner of war, I will keep faith with my fellow prisoners. I will give no information or take part in any action which might be harmful to my comrades. If I am senior, I will take command. If not, I will obey the lawful orders of those appointed over me and will back them up in every way. 
> 
> **V**
> 
> When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am required to give name, rank, service number and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability. I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause.

  
Indeed, this is very clearcut: Option 1 is to be the first choice, and Option 3 is absolutely forbidden under any circumstances.  Given this, it is very understandable that some of the story's audience are going to react very badly to say the least, to what the Reader ends up doing.  And I can _definitely_ understand where those people are coming from.  Had I been writing a story from a military POV, this is something that likely would've stopped me cold in my tracks, or resulted in an extremely different story.  For example, if I were writing from the perspective of someone similar to Poe Dameron, the chances of the character attempting escape are pretty high.

The Reader, however, is not a member of any military, paramilitary, or law enforcement organization.  Certainly loyalty to her homeworld of Dantooine and to the New Republic is something that has to be taken into consideration.  This can also be taken down to a more immediate level--personal loyalty to one's family and friends.  And it was definitely something that she thought about, and that causes her pain.

But coming at this from a non-military perspective makes the serious complication in "Another Set of Eyes"--the thing that sets this apart from a normal behind-enemy-lines story--really come to the fore.

And that is what happens if you attempt escape: you _will_ be tracked.  This is not a mere possibility as it would be in most escape scenarios.  This is an _inevitability_.  As soon as your absence is noticed (and that's likely to be _very_ quick!), your own thoughts and even your senses will betray everything you do.  One comparison from another franchise would be the scenario from _Star Trek: Generations_ , where Commander LaForge is taken prisoner and his VISOR is hacked, giving the enemy a spy camera aboard the _Enterprise_.  LaForge, unlike the Reader, has no idea what's been done, and ends up as an unwitting accomplice to taking down the _Enterprise-D_ when he looks at a console containing highly classified information.

Unlike LaForge...you _know_ what's happened to you.  You also know distance won't solve it, or Kylo Ren would likely have left you on Dantooine and jumped to hyperspace: a quick, easy solution, and one that would get Ren out of the jam his mishap puts _him_ in, with minimal fuss.  You therefore realize that any attempt you make to flee will be tracked from wherever Ren is all the way to your final destination.  No two ways about it.

Depending on how much Kylo Ren's temper is aroused, versus his more long-term thinking, one of two things results from a successful escape attempt.  (Though obviously getting killed in the attempt is, for a character like our Reader with no military training, the most _likely_ outcome...but we'll address that in a sense with Option 2.)

The first possibility is that in a fit of rage, Kylo Ren pursues you to the ends of the galaxy, carving a tornado track of destruction and death all the way from Point A to Point B.  You can't throw him off your trail.  Unless you're planning on the extremely, _extremely_ farfetched scenario of having yourself frozen in carbonite and not thawed out until the end of Ren's life, you _will_ be tracked everywhere you go by a method a million times more sure than an Imperial homing beacon.  (And even if you think you're going to try the carbonite thing, consider how are you even going to get your hands on the stuff from aboard the _Finalizer_ , ensure your proper shipping and handling--and if you did all of that, given that the mind bridge is active even in dreams, you can't even be sure this drastic measure will cut the signal entirely.)

Anyone you see--anyone who aids you, if Ren decides to hunt you down, the instant you contact them they are a dead man walking, and you know it.  There is no telling just how far this revenge could go.  Although I have seen some theories, which I think have at least some credibility, that Kylo Ren is not the Starkiller weapon's number one fan, you do have to consider that revenge for an escape could escalate all the way to genocide.  "Even" if it doesn't go that far, consider that you are almost certainly signing your friends' and families' death warrants, as well as any collateral damage Ren inflicts going after you.  If somehow you manage to contact the Resistance, _even if you warn them_ about what's happened to you, your very act of making contact is still a critical piece of intelligence the First Order needs to dismantle the Resistance once and for all.

The second possibility, if Kylo Ren is able to restrain his temper and think strategically, is that similar to LaForge, you end up as a sleeper agent...against your will, but again, unlike LaForge, you _know_.  Can you live with that?  If Ren does manage to think strategically, this is very much to his advantage after the debacle with BB-8, Poe Dameron, and Rey.  Which he's been called on the carpet for by Snoke, in front of Hux.  You can bet that if it occurs to him to do this (and you don't move to Option 2 in short order), he is going to gather all the information he can, and shove it right in General Hux's face.  He may even be able to come clean with Snoke and Hux about the Force bond instead of having to hide it at all costs, and spin it not as a vulnerability, but a move of tactical brilliance that granted him sole access to a treasure trove of critical intel.

(Now, as to why Ren did not try to purposely set you up for exactly this, even though it might mean he no longer risks punishment from Snoke for his mishap, notice what happened when you broke your hand: your wound put _him_ in pain.  While we have seen people in the _Star Wars_ universe survive the deaths of those they may have Force bonds with, and even disturbances caused by genocide, there are other examples in the Legends where the connection has lethal repercussions if one of the two dies.  Given how this one arose--not spontaneously, but mostly as the result of Kylo Ren aggressively interfering with your mind, there's _serious_ reason for Ren to believe your death would kill or at least severely incapacitate him.  Letting you go out of his direct sphere of influence means there is no longer any way to control for this risk.  It's comparable to walking around with an untreated brain aneurysm that could rupture at any time: unpredictable, instant death.)

Anyway, even a sworn member of the military or the Resistance, I would think, would at least _consider_ the grave risks she would bring others by trying to escape under these extremely abnormal circumstances.  In a soldier's case, it's quite possible that the oath to "resist" might have to take a different form if escape is ruled out.  In the Reader's case, not sworn to this oath, she likely also considered another choice...

 

Option 2: Taking one's own life

Part of me truly loathes even bringing this option up.

Reason being, we see a lot of glorification of suicide in some parts of the culture, which I don't like at all, and it can even be psychologically "contagious."

And along those lines, there are some people who, when evaluating the three choices, are going to consider any option that involves intentionally ending one's own life to be an absolute evil, exceeding either of the other two options.  Even escape, knowing the awful risks, or alliance with Ren and all _that_ brings with it, would be more acceptable to those individuals.  I have to admit, from the framework of my own personal beliefs, I would have _extremely_ severe reservations myself.  No amount of hopelessness or despair is something I could use to justify taking my own life, and that was what got me through a period of depression in my life.

And then there's the matter of actually following through on such an act even if the Reader tried to commit to it.  Our instincts as human beings, if we are not facing a psychological illness, is to not do ourselves harm.  It is possible that if you put yourself in the Reader's shoes, that even if you considered this option, it would come down to literally not being able to do it.  That's not even counting the very strong in-universe likelihood that if you start going into that kind of psychological tailspin, you are going to be getting a very forceful "intervention" from a certain individual supremely unqualified to practice on patients!

There is, of course, another way to frame this action if it does _not_ arise from despair and hopelessness in the situation, one that could make it more morally acceptable.  And this is one I think a soldier is most likely to come up with: self-sacrifice.  If a soldier in our Reader's position ruled out escape as leading to unacceptable collateral damage and/or amounts of critical Resistance intelligence falling into enemy hands, the next option is essentially a kamikaze mission.  Even without taking one's _own_ life, there's the idea of "suicide by Stormtrooper"--lashing out and provoking an enemy soldier to deliver the killing blow.

Now there's also something else a soldier would likely consider here.  And that is the fact that intentionally going to one's death has a potential of being _murder-suicide_ , or at least doing very serious harm to Kylo Ren, if successful.  That right there is _huge_ , and a goal that a soldier might well see as _their supreme duty_ to carry out.  This version actually ceases to be suicide--it's no different from a soldier who deliberately falls on an IED and takes the full brunt of the explosion to save others.

Some might consider the Reader a fool or a coward for not taking this route.  I can easily understand where that comes from.  But for a civilian, who lacks both the technical and psychological components of military training, getting to this point isn't as easy.  Additionally, someone in the medical profession might have another reason to hesitate.  Now, I'd point out that the Reader in this story isn't a pacifist: before the interrogation, she was even willing to try--though in a very clumsy, easily defeated way--to kill Ren to keep him away from the patients.  Still, it's not an easy thing for someone used to preserving life and living on civilian terms to do.  Not that it's even _easy_ for a soldier.  It's really that a soldier's training confers an advantage because it makes certain actions into habit.

But just as with those who feel you would have tried to escape, I understand that some people are going to believe sincerely that going kamikaze was the best choice and that the Reader was utterly wrong for not doing it.  And that as a civilian you still would have done it.  So again, no hard feelings if you feel strongly about this...it makes sense how one reaches that conclusion.

Even the Reader herself recognizes that the decision she _did_ make was one likely to draw severe condemnation from some, no matter what the ultimate outcome is.

Which brings us to the final option...

 

Option 3: Ally with Kylo Ren

Now we're on the path the Reader actually took, though not without a _lot_ of unease: instead of attempting escape or ending her life, she will play the role that Kylo Ren wants her to play, and give her outward allegiance to the Knights of Ren.

While not a full Knight, this does entail adopting the Knights' manner of dress and speech, and acting to further the goals of Kylo Ren and (as long as they coincide) the First Order.  As mentioned before, to a soldier this is an absolutely forbidden, absolutely unconscionable act under any circumstances.  Returning alive after doing this kind of thing in real life, means a court martial and at the very least, life in prison without the possibility of parole.  In some countries, the penalty can be execution as a traitor.

Even a civilian _might_ face this, though that's dependent on something we don't know about the New Republic--which is whether the death penalty is on the books.  That said, considering the involvement of the Force and the fact that the Reader is not a Force-sensitive (note that as a rule no one is _completely without_ the Force, and the Yuuzhan Vong are no longer canon), a pardon for being under a very unusual type of duress is possible.  And given how the connection between the Reader and Kylo Ren drastically impacts attempts to carry through on Options 1 and 2, you may be able...with some people, anyway...to make your case if you survive and ever find some way to return without the grave risks that currently carries.

Regardless of what the law would or would not do with you if you made it back someday, someone who sees this option as the least of these evils will be balancing their morality on the knife's edge with no idea how far it could go.

What the Reader sees in the short term is that she may be able to mitigate the harm resulting from her decision.  With the resources and training she has at her disposal--which is non-military--this is the option that gives her at least a little agency, however slight, and _might_ be within her abilities to carry out.  Adding to that, what Kylo Ren presents to her the day he releases her from solitary is something that--for reasons as yet unknown to her--will even allow her to somewhat practice her old role as medic.

Now, what medical ethics demand you do when presented with _ANY_ patient, regardless of what kind of person they are, what kinds of decisions they've made in their life, and where their loyalties lie...this is somewhere where I the writer, as opposed to the character I portray, would struggle.  This is something where I struggle with the medical profession in general, and I'm not sure I have it in me to do even though if I take my faith all the way to its conclusion, these are feelings I should not be proud of.  But if I am completely honest, I must admit they are there.

A medical professional is expected to treat all patients according to the same standard of care, no matter who they are, what they've done, whether their injury resulted from their own negligence or poor choices, or what uniform they're wearing.  In real life we can also look to the example of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), who will literally go anywhere and treat anyone, regardless of what their home countries' situations may be with regard to the patients' nations of origin.  Even a military medic would be expected to deliver the same standard of care to a captured enemy that they would to one of their own.  To do otherwise would violate the medical oath, and would be considered an absolute wrong.  Even when treating someone who, given the opportunity, might try to kill you.  Kylo Ren directly calls the Reader out on this fact.

So the question may come down to whether the Reader believes she can contain the damage entailed by working for Kylo Ren to an acceptable level, and if she believes--because of the extreme circumstances entailed by the mental bridge to Kylo Ren--her decision to violate at least some of her morals could be preventing something far worse.  If taken this way, it could be regarded as another (albeit _far_ murkier morally speaking) way of sacrificing oneself for the sake of others.  Even if that's the intent, there's no way to tell what further compromises and sacrifices beyond the actual act of accepting even outward alliance with Kylo Ren could end up being demanded.  Yet at the same time, because you are still alive and because you are _not_ amongst the Resistance or with your loved ones (we know what that brings down upon them), there could even remain a chance of managing a few acts here and there that could be considered good.  But do these somehow outweigh the terrible part of this decision?

Whatever the future holds, there's no doubt about one thing: the Reader is playing with fire and even this act alone may exact a heavy price.  For some, this price is simply too high.  For some, this may be the least odious choice--but only slightly!--out of three choices that all have very painful consequences to oneself and others. 

There are other possibilities, implications, and philosophical disagreements I would love to get into that apply specifically to Option 3, but unfortunately to even touch on them could spill major spoilers.

 

In summation...

I close by saying that I respect that good and rational people will reach different conclusions from the Reader character.  Heck, for some, it could be enough to turn them off from the story and I totally understand.  But I hope that even for some who disagree with the choice, it might be interesting to see the possible results of making an anathematic choice.  There is a story I'm reading right now that portrays a Reader making decisions that I know I wouldn't be able to stomach if I were actually in that situation myself--but it interests me to see what might happen in that situation as a hypothetical.  I hope this story could be the same for some.

But regardless of what any person would decide if _they_ were in this situation, the ethics of the three choices have been very, very interesting for me to think through.  I hope it has been too, for those brave individuals who waded through this ramble to its end, and I hope you'll enjoy seeing how Option 3 could play out!


End file.
